Teachers, parents, and middle and high school students across Illinois have the opportunity to participate in the Illinois 5Essentials Survey. This survey was designed to generate a detailed picture of the inner workings of your child’s school from the perspective of teachers, parents, and students.

The Illinois 5Essentials Survey will be administered online by the University of Chicago, on behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education. This survey identifies five indicators that can lead to important student outcomes, including test score gains. Research has shown that schools strong on these indicators are ten times more likely to improve student learning.

The five indicators that effect school success are:

Effective leaders

Collaborative teachers

Involved families

Supportive environments

Ambitious instruction

As a parent, your feedback will help us understand the conditions at your child’s school and guide improvement.

The state will provide survey results for individual schools only if a school has at least 30 percent of parents take the survey.

If you have children attending more than one school, we ask that you complete the survey for each school.

If 30 percent of parents participate, the results will be released by the state at the end of October.

The University of Chicago will keep your identity and survey responses completely confidential.